Consumers utilize electronic vapor cigarettes, pipes, and modified vapor devices to enjoy what is commonly known as “vaping.” Vaping is an increasingly popular market segment, which has been, and continues to, steadily gain market acceptance over the last several years.
Various types of personal vaporizers are known in the art. In general, such vaporizers are characterized by heating a solid to a smoldering point, vaporizing a liquid by heat, or nebulizing a liquid by heat and/or by expansion through a nozzle. Such devices are designed to release aromatic materials in the solid or liquid (aka, “e-liquid” or “e-juice”) while avoiding high temperatures of combustion and the associated formation of tars, carbon monoxide, or other harmful byproducts. E-liquid is a water based liquid infused with nicotine or flavor ingredients and can also include up to 95% vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol. Other e-liquids may include heath supplements such as vitamin B-12. Standards for e-liquids have been established by the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association (AEMSA).
The main components of a personal vaporizer are a mouthpiece, a cartridge or a tank to hold the material to be vaporized, a heating element/atomizer, a microprocessor, a battery, a switch (electronic or mechanical) to close an electrical circuit to the heating element, and possibly one or more light-emitting-diodes (LED) indicating the status of the vaporizer. An atomizer comprises a small heating element, or coil, that vaporizes c-liquid, and a wicking material that draws the liquid into the coil. When the user pushes a button or otherwise activates a pressure sensor by inhaling, the heating element energizes and atomizes the e-liquid. The e-liquid reaches a temperature of roughly 100-250° C. within a chamber to create an aerosolized vapor. In some instances, a combined atomizer and cartridge called a “Cartomizer” or a “Clearomizer” may be used which heats up the material to be vaporized and creates the vapor to be inhaled.
Consumers often can both an electronic communication device (e.g., a cellular phone) and an electronic vapor device, requiring the consumer to carry and manage multiple devices throughout the day. It would be desirable, therefore, to develop new technologies to integrate vapor producing devices with other electronic devices, such as smartphones, via its case.